


All We Do Is Drive

by sarahkatlinewalker



Category: Dear Evan Hansen - Pasek & Paul/Levenson
Genre: Alternate Universe - Road Trip, I'm going to try and keep it slow burn but, Just!! Some boys!!! Havin a good time!!, M/M, Pining, Road Trips, i'm weak
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-21
Updated: 2017-09-13
Packaged: 2018-12-04 23:46:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11565885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarahkatlinewalker/pseuds/sarahkatlinewalker
Summary: Due to unforeseen circumstances, what was supposed to be a group road trip, turns into just Connor and Evan's road trip. Fun times, more unforeseen circumstances, and pining ensue. Basically I needed a road trip au and fluff so here we are.





	1. Chapter One

They had been planning this road trip for Spring break since practically Christmas break, and they had all seemed really excited about it. At the time.

They had planned the trip to take about two days driving there and two days back, staying the rest of the time at a beach house that belonged to the Murphys. In theory they’d rotate driving between four of the five of them periodically, since Evan hated driving, however as the date got closer, more things started falling apart. Jared backed out first because of “family matters” and then about a week before the trip Alana had backed out with Zoe following suit. Alana had backed out for extra curriculars, and Zoe had dropped back to help, leaving no time for the Connor or Evan to make plans other than just going home. So they’d both agreed to just go on ahead with the trip, just the two of them.

Connor was, truthfully, pretty glad that Evan hadn't backed out with everyone else, though it was probably purely out of obligation for him. Connor however hadn't wanted to go anywhere near home for break, and this way he didn't have to.

It was odd how it had all worked out, how they had all become friends. It really mostly started with Alana, she had wormed her way into Connor's life with her overachieving friendliness, and in turn introduced him to Evan, who she’d done the same thing to. Evan had introduced Jared, and Connor had unintentionally introduced Zoe, and surprisingly… they all got along very well in their weird ways.

Connor was grateful for having made one friend in college with Alana, let alone four, even if one was his sister. Regardless of being happy to have the friends, he was still pretty pissed most of them had bailed and now it was just him and Evan.

It wasn't that Connor didn't like Evan, quite the opposite he did like Evan, he actually liked Evan a lot, which he worried might make things... awkward. Evan was just a generally awkward person on his own, and Connor wasn't much better, which was why they worked well in a group. They'd never spent much time one on one with each other, and part of Connor really looked forward to that. The other half was terrified he was going to fuck it up.

Connor leaned on the hood of his car and checked his phone for the time as he bit his nail absently. Evan was supposed to have been there a few minutes ago, but he figured he was probably stuck in his dorm repacking everything for the thirtieth time, trying to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything. He didn't really mind waiting on him, but he decided to shoot him a text anyway.

Conman: Hey, just wanted to check in, are you coming?

Ev: Yeah!!!! Sorry!!!! I'm in my way I'm just running a bit behind!!!!

He let out a small laugh at Evan’s thousand question marks and apology before he locked his phone and pocketed it. He pulled out a cigarette from the carton in his pocket, lighting it and taking a drag.

After a few minutes, and most of the cigarette, he pulled out his phone again to check if Evan was still coming, but he stopped short.

“I thought you said you were quitting,” he heard a voice say behind him, he turned to see Evan with a few bags and a small nervous smile. Connor dropped the cigarette stomping it out.

“I've said that a lot of times,” he said with a shrug, “Doesn't make it true.” Evan gave him a disapproving look and he rolled his eyes. Connor picked the cigaret butt up, sticking it back in the carton. Knowing how much Evan hated damage to the environment had rubbed off on him.

He shoved the carton back in his pocket and turned around to unlock the car so Evan could put his bags in the backseat. He got into the front seat, waiting until Evan got situated in the passenger seat before he started the car.

“You ready?” He asked, tying his hair back into a messy bun to keep it out of his face for the long drive.

“Yeah, uh I think so,” Evan said, nodding as he buckled himself in. Connor watched Evan for a minute, nervously tapping his fingers on the steering wheel and glancing at the slightly slow radio clock on his dashboard.

“So it's about 11:30 now, if we switch off at like, five for an hour, I can sleep a little, and then we can switch back and I can drive us through the night so you don't have to,” he said. Evan nodded looking at his lap, clearly a bit weary of driving--even for an hour. Connor sighed, putting the car in reverse, pulling out of the campus parking lot they were in as they began the journey.

“Sorry that I’m, um, not very good at driving, and I can’t do more of it…” Evan said fiddling with the hem of his shirt. Connor shrugged indifferently, “No big deal dude, if I’m mad at anyone it’s Jared, Alanna, and Zoe for skipping out on us.” Evan nodded, worrying his lip between his teeth letting out a nervous chuckle, “Yeah sorry you got stuck with me,” he said. Connor furrowed his brow, not exactly sure what to say, of course he didn’t feel like he was ‘ _stuck with him_ ’. He shrugged his shoulders tapping his thumbs on the wheel, “I’m not mad,” he repeated.

The car filled with uncomfortable silence for a while before Connor realized he’d neglected to play any kind of music to cover any awkward silence. He pulled the AUX cord up off the ground, tossing it at Evan who flinched slightly away, making Connor internally kick himself for not giving him some warning. “You can play something from your phone if you want,” he said, glancing over at the other who looked back with wide eyes.

“Uh, well, I uh, I don’t really have any good music taste,” he murmured, looking out the window while rolling the AUX cord between his fingers. Connor kind of doubted he didn’t have good music taste, but he respected his decision, and shifted slightly to grab his phone from his back pocket and holding it out for Evan to take, “Here--you can use mine, just open Spotify and play the playlist that’s titled with dot dot dot. My password is 3825,” he said, keeping his eyes carefully fixed on the road. Evan unlocked his phone and carefully plugged the AUX cord in. He opened the Spotify app quickly, finding the playlist at the front of “recently played”.

Connor killed the urge to hum along to “Mr.Brightside” as the first note came out of the speaker, which admittedly was pretty hard, but he didn’t exactly want to embarrassingly belt along to it with Evan in the seat next to him. He glanced at the boy in question, who smiled brightly back at him, “I love this song!” he said excitedly. Connor let his lips tug up at the corners, because, well, who doesn’t love “Mr.Brightside”? But also because, damn it, Evan was cute when he was excited. He quickly pushed the thought of Evan being cute to the side, refocusing on the road.

He tapped his fingers along to the beat, his resolve to stay quiet fell away as the chorus came up for the second time. He quietly sang along to the simple repetitive tune and he thought he could hear Evan join in quietly, and he thought maybe it wouldn’t be so awkward after all.

\-----------------------

After a couple of hours on the road, Connor felt significantly more relaxed compared to the beginning of the drive, as Evan had seemed to have relaxed too, or as much as he ever really relaxed. They had been mostly silent, letting Connor’s music play, with idle conversation interspersed throughout. It had actually been kind of nice.

“So, what are you most excited for?” Connor asked as the last few chords of the song that had been playing faded out. Evan jolted a bit, seemingly surprised by the question. His face turned thoughtful as he mulled over the question for a moment.

“I mean, I guess I’m excited just for the beach in general. I’ve never gotten to go. We didn’t ever really have money, or time, to go on vacations when I was younger,” he said thoughtfully before his eyes widened slightly, “I mean--sorry, you probably don’t care about that, you just asked a simple question, haha, um, but yeah, I’m excited for the beach!” Evan rambled waving his hands like he was trying to will the subject to change away from his lack of money.

Connor didn’t really mind Evan talking about himself, but he let it go with a small shrug. “Yeah, beaches are fun, I’ve been about a million times,” he said and immediately and regretted it, realizing he sounded like the privileged little brat he was, “But first times are fun,” he added, trying to backpedal, and he cringed at himself for the awkward wording. Evan nodded with a small smile looking at his lap, tapping his fingers on his legs along to the beat of the song, “Into the Wild”, playing over the speakers.

“What are you excited for? You and Zoe have been there before right?” Evan asked politely. Connor nodded with a small shrug, “I dunno, the little beach town is pretty cute, and there’s some fun things to do there,” he said.

“I guess I’m just excited for it all I think this is going to be really fun,” Evan said, nodding again, smiling a bit wider now, looking up at Connor. Connor allowed himself to smile back, nodding in agreement before he turned his eyes back to the road, trying to ignore the flutter in his chest he felt when Evan smiled at him. He was glad that he did seem like he genuinely wanted to be there, not like he was only there for obligations sake like he’d thought, and he was probably only about as upset as the others dropping out as him. They let the conversation lull, listening to the music. Connor let himself hum along lightly to the chorus of “Dog Days” a small smile on his face realizing he was actually genuinely pretty excited himself.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Henlo I'm back from the dead, I know I started this about five million years ago, but I was having a rough time and no time to write. Now I have time and motivation to write so here we are! Anyway the next update should be waaaaaay sooner enjoy!

“No way!” Evan said, leaning forward, nearly doubled over in laughter, “There is _no way_ ,” he repeated as Connor grinned at him.

“Yes fucking way,” Connor affirmed. 

“Why did you _bite a CD_?” Evan wheezed, trying to catch his breath.

“I didn't know what it was! I was a kid, I had new teeth and put random shit in my mouth!” He laughed, he defends.

They had been on the road for nearly five hours, and at this point they were trading childhood stories and laughing hysterically, more due to the fact that everything becomes funny after hours of boredom than anything else.

“One time when I was little, my mom gave me a tube of lipstick to play with, and I started drawing all over the walls with it,” Evans said, covering his mouth and laughing.

“Well, who didn't do something like that as a kid, I ruined my room with markers, my mom was pissed,” He said, grinning. He glanced at Evan who was grinning right back at him, and he wanted to punch himself for thinking how stupid cute the other looked. He quickly fixed his gaze back on the road, his smile still lingering, despite his annoyance with himself.

The whole trip had been like that; Evan would do about anything, and Connor would feel a rush of emotions about it and hate himself. Not to say it had been bad--he'd actually been having more fun than he could remember having in quite some time, despite the internal conflict about his frustrating crush.

They had swapped lots of stories from their younger years, but neither had really talked much about high school. Connor didn't have fond memories of his highschool years, when he was always angry and alone, fighting with his parents, or getting too fucked up to remember the last 24 hours. He hadn't even had Zoe at that point. He could only assume Evan shared the negative sentiment, as he remembered Jared having said he was his only friend in highschool. And damn, with anybody to have as your one and only friend, Jared probably hadn't been the best. Not that Connor didn't like Jared, in an asshole you banter with kind of way, and sometimes even a genuine way, but he probably would have hated him in high school. Though he had hated almost everyone in highschool, especially himself.

He shifted in his seat to straighten his back slightly, hearing it pop a few times, and trying bring his thoughts back to the present. “So you're still okay with driving for a little bit right?” He asked, glancing at the other. Connor still had to drive for about an hour, and he wanted to make sure Evan was still fine with the plan. He watched Evan tug on his seat belt nodding a bit violently.

“Yeah, no, I'll be fine, it'll be fine,” Evan said in a rapid affirmation, maybe more for himself than Connor, who quirked an eyebrow in response.

“Are you sure?” He asked, watching the other boy continue fidget with his seatbelt.

He nodded biting his lip, “I'll be fine,” he repeated giving a forced smile. Connor huffed slightly, not wanting to push it. Though it was clear Evan was anxious about it, he was getting tired of driving for so long.

“Should we stop somewhere to eat while we're switching over?” Evan suggested tentatively. Connor nodded in response, having not eaten anything before they left, and only eating a bit of junk food here and there, since they had packed along for the drive.

“What sounds good?” Connor asked. Evan shrugged noncommittally, and Connor rolled his eyes. He could try and get Evan to pick, but it probably wouldn't go well. “Does McDonalds sound good?” he asked, already craving the disgusting food from the cursed Golden Arches.

“Yeah! Sounds great,” Evan said, with a lot more enthusiasm than Connor had really expected. He chuckled a bit, shaking his head. He supposed they were both creatures of simple taste.

“Perfect, glad you're as eager to clog your arteries as me,” he joked, causing Evan to let out a small huffy laugh.

“It's so bad, but who can resist?” Evan replied, shaking his head. Connor smiled, nodding in agreement with the other’s statement, because, honestly, who genuinely liked McDonalds?

They continued to drive, letting the music fill in the gaps of silence between their small conversations and laughter, until they finally arrived at an exit with McDonald's clearly printed in the aggressive red and yellow of their logo.

They pulled into the parking lot and get out of the car, Connors back popped several times, and he felt almost like he was being unfolded from the cramped car as he stretched out a bit. Evan gave a small concerned look at all of the loudly popping joints and Connor let out a small laugh, waving his hand dismissively.

“Dude I'm fine, this is pretty much what my body sounds like anytime I move, now c’mon, let's go eat some disgusting corporation food,” he said, putting his hands in his pockets and nodding towards the building.

They did’t take long ordering their food, and thankfully, there weren’t many people, so it didn’t take them long to get it. They made their way over to a booth, Connor quickly digging into his food as Evan tentatively took a nugget. They finished up quickly with little conversation, though the silence didn’t bother him as much as he thought it might.

\--------------------

“Are you gonna be okay driving?” Connor asked. Evan nodded, buckling himself in and starting the car. Truth be told, Evan was very anxious about driving, but he’d suck it up for Connor. Connor fiddled with his phone, setting the GPS to give Evan direction while he slept.

They made it onto the road and Evan felt Connor’s eyes on him. He glanced over at Connor seeing...worry, maybe?

“Evan, are you sure?” he asked, and Evan tensed up further, nodding in affirmation.

“Yeah, uh, definitely!” Evan said, faking over excitement about it. He knew Connor needed to get sleep, and having him watch over his driving would probably only serve to stress him out further. Connor gave him a small shrug before leaning the passenger seat back, and situating himself to sleep.

After a while, he heard Connor’s breathing get heavier and he was pretty sure he was asleep. He was still pretty sure he was going to crash and kill them, but Connor had seemed like he was really tired, and he’d been driving so long, he had to drive. At the beginning of the trip, he’d been nervous about so much one-on-one time with Connor; worried that he’d put his foot in his mouth like he always seemed to do. Especially since he liked Connor, and that made it twice as likely that he’d say something embarrassing. But, so far, the trip had been really fun. He’d liked their conversations and Connor’s music, which was still playing as Connor slept--something called “Fool You’ve Landed.” Overall, it had been really nice.

Even though it was nerve wracking, it was pretty fun spending one on one time with Connor, getting to know him better, and-- maybe unfortunately--very much reaffirming his crush on him. He knew that he didn’t really have a chance with Connor, because, well, Evan was kind of pathetic, and Connor was not. Despite all of that, he hadn’t really felt bad anxiety--mostly just the mild panic of being around someone you like.

But now Connor was asleep. And he was on the highway, driving. Anxiously. Everytime a car passed him he wanted to apologize to them, even though logically he knew he wasn’t doing anything wrong, and even if he were, they wouldn’t hear him. It was still extremely stressful for him. His shoulders were practically touching his ears, he was so tensed up.

He took a deep breath to try to calm himself, relaxing his shoulders as much as he could. He did some breathing, focusing on the road ahead of him. After he felt a bit more calm, he glanced over at Connor, who was fast asleep. He looked more peaceful, younger maybe, leaning against the window relaxed in his sleep. He felt his face heat up, feeling a little creepy looking at Connor sleep and he refocused on the road, taking more deep breathes to keep himself calm.

After a while, he eased into the driving and it didn’t feel as awful, just sort of boring while still being mildly stressful. The phone had only given him a few simple directions, which had been nice, and he hadn’t really been paying much attention to how long he had been driving. He was starting to get a bit tired, when he nearly jumped a foot out of his seat when “Tokyo Sunrise” was interrupted, not by another quiet, but still annoying, direction from Siri, but instead by a loud alarm from Connor’s phone.

Connor didn’t jump, though he did wake up. He barely rolled over and groaned, rubbing his eyes. He sat up and blinked, looking very disoriented for a moment before he fixed his gaze on Evan. “Hey,” he said sleepily, and Evan could swear he saw the corners of his lips pulling up in an almost non-existent smile, making his chest flutter, and his grip on the steering wheel tighten a bit.

“Hey,” Evan responded with a small smile, making sure to keep his focus on the road. Connor shifted sitting up completely, moving around and stretching, his joints popping as he did. “The next exit is in about 3 miles, so we can switch off there,” Evan said. “If you want, that is,” he added anxiously, not wanting Connor to feel obligated to let Evan drive so little. Connor simply nodded blinking slowly, seemingly still waking himself up.

They pulled off on the exit and into a gas station, deciding to fill up while they switched over.  
“How’d you do while I slept?” Connor asked as he began pumping gas, a task that, no matter how many time he did it, still managed to make Evan anxious that he’d do something wrong.

He shrugged in response to the question, not quite sure how to answer, “It was fine, kind of boring,” he said scuffing his shoe on the cement, not meeting Connor’s eyes, “I didn’t crash, so I guess that’s a win,” he joked. Connor let out a small chuckle and Evan smiled glancing up at him.

When they were finally done, back in the car, and making their way back on the road, with Connor at the wheel, Evan finally felt the pressure of driving ease away, leaning back and looking out the window absently. He makes the occasional glance at the other who’s tapping his thumbs on the steering wheel to the beat of “Fool You’ve Landed”.

“You should try and get some sleep,” Connor said catching his eye as he glances over, making Evan quickly avert his gaze nodding. He was sort of tired, and it wasn’t like he had anything better to do, since Connor didn’t seem to be in the mood to talk, and Evan didn’t want to bother him. He leaned the seat back a bit, shifting around a bit trying to get comfortable before shutting his eyes.  
  
He laid there for quite some time not actually asleep, and at some point Connor started to quietly sing along to little bits of every song that came on his playlist. He honestly had a really nice voice, which Evan had never known. He probably assumed that Evan was asleep, and after a bit more time, and a bit more willpower on his behalf, he was.  
\--------------------------------

Evan felt the corners of consciousness slip into his mind as he rolled over from the fairly uncomfortable position he had fallen asleep in in the passenger seat of the car. He opened his eyes to find that he had slept through the night and it was light out again. He also turned to see, to his shock and horror, Connor driving with his knees, pouring a cup of coffee from one paper cup to another thermos, with a very concentrated look on his face. Evan bolted up right, seeming to surprise Connor, as he jerked his knee slightly, and they drifted a bit on the road, before grabbing it and righting them, making Evan cry out in surprise.

“Connor! What the hell?” he yelped in clear distress from waking up to find Connor practically trying to kill them. Connor simply let out a laugh, putting the newly filled coffee cup in the empty cup holder next to him.

“Relax, jeez,” he said with a grin, “I’ve been driving with my knees, for like, an hour. Besides, I’m good at it.” he says, Evan makes a face, gesturing at the coffee cup. Connor rolls his eyes, “Please, the coffee is really just a necessity at this point, I have to be awake to drive.”

Evan lets out an exasperated sigh, “You could have told me to drive longer, or pulled over and woken me up!” he nearly shouted, trying to keep the panic of Connor’s awful driving at bay. Connor simply shrugged, a smirk still tugging on the corners of his lips. “It’s fine, seriously, I’ve done worse,” Connor tried to reassure, though it did about the opposite. The thought of Connor doing even more reckless things made his stomach churn a bit, but he sighed heavily in resignation, knowing Connor was bound to do whatever he wanted. Evan looked out the window, tapping his fingers on his legs lightly, as he tried to calm himself down. He heard Connor sigh next to him and he turned his gaze slightly, afraid that he’d upset them. “Listen, I’ll try and be a little more careful, okay?” he said. Evan felt himself relax slightly, even though he knew Connor ‘trying’ was likely to mean he would still be rather reckless, he was eased with the thought that he’d make an effort. “Thank you,” he said giving him a weak smile.

He shifted in his seat slightly, trying to get into a comfortable position again. “About how long until you want to switch over again?” He asked, looking over at the other once he settled. Connor shrugged picking up his phone, making Evan cringe slightly with worry, and he dropped it back down to look back at the road. “I can probably go a few more hours, but then we should stop at a hotel for a night, I think. Just so we don’t kill ourselves trying to get there,” he said. Evan nodded, looking at the other boy for probably a bit too long before quickly fixing his eyes on the road ahead. “Yeah, sounds good,” he said, looking out the window.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Songs:   
> Fool You've Landed by Mumford and Sons  
> Tokyo Sunrise by LP
> 
> Alrighty so next chapter will be more action packing this was mostly filler 
> 
> Most of Connors bad driving is based on Real Actual Things my brother has done while making long drives 
> 
> Drop a comment or something if you like it which I really hope you did!! And if you want you can come bug me on Tumblr at sarahkatlinewalker

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos are greatly appreciated! Hope you like it so far!
> 
> Songs:   
> Mr.Brightside by the killer  
> Dog Days Are Over by Florence and the Machine  
> Into the Wild by LP


End file.
